LYSISTRATA -ARISTOPHANES

About the author

Aristophanes was a Greek comic playwright and poet who wrote 40 plays in his lifetime
during the 5th century B.C.E. Eleven of those plays have been preserved and are still
performed today. He is known by many as the “Father of Comedy” from this era, and often
included many different elements in his plays, including fantastical scenarios, sexual
frankness, satirical critique, and physical comedy. His plays include The Clouds, The
Wasps, The Birds, Lysistrata, The Women at the Thesmophoria Festival, and The Frogs.
Born in Athens at some point between 450 and 445, Aristophanes came from a wealthy
family and was well-educated in Athenian literature and philosophy. When he was 17, he
began submitting his plays to dramatic competitions. His plays belong to the Greek
tradition of Old Comedy. His primary way of satirizing events was by making the actions of
people in elevated positions seem ridiculous and poorly thought out. He often wrote plays
that reflected the political realities of Athens. In The Knights, he wrote a character that was
meant to stand in for an Athenian leader. The character is an avaricious slave to a rather
unintelligent master, who represents the Athenian people. The play was well-received, even
though it included a scathing critique of the government. Aristophanes’ plays, though
comedic and ridiculous, were always a comment on the political realities of the time in
which they were written. During a pre-war conflict between Sparta and Athens,
Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata, a satire about the unnecessariness of war. Then, after the
Peloponnesian War and the plague, Aristophanes wrote The Frogs, about Dionysus
traveling to the underworld to bring Euripides back from the dead to write a tragedy. After
the war ended, Athens had lost some of its spirit, and New Comedy, which was more
conservative and less bawdy or vivacious, replaced Old Comedy. Aristophanes died in
Athens around 386 BC.

Lysistrata-This comedy was written not long after the catastrophic defeat of the
Athenian expedition to Sicily (413 bce) and not long before the revolt of the Four Hundred in
Athens, whereby an oligarchic regime ready to make peace with Sparta was set up (411
bce). Lysistrata (411 bce; Greek Lysistratē) depicts the seizure of the Acropolis and of the
treasury of Athens by the city’s women who, at Lysistrata’s instigation, have, together with
all the women of Greece, declared a sex strike until such time as the men will make peace.
The women defy their menfolk until the peace is arranged, after which both the Athenian
and Spartan wives are reunited with their husbands. The play is a mixture of humour,
indecency, gravity, and farce.
Summary

Lysistrata has planned a meeting between all of the women of Greece to discuss the plan
to end the Peloponnesian War. As Lysistrata waits for the women of Sparta, Thebes, and
other areas to meet her she curses the weakness of women. Lysistrata plans to ask the
women to refuse sex with their husbands until a treaty for peace has been signed.
Lysistrata has also made plans with the older women of Athens (the Chorus of Old Women)
to seize the Akropolis later that day. The women from the various regions finally assemble
and Lysistrata convinces them to swear an oath that they will withhold sex from their
husbands until both sides sign a treaty of peace. As the women sacrifice a bottle of wine to
the Gods in celebration of their oath, they hear the sounds of the older women taking the
Akropolis, the fortress that houses the treasury of Athens.

In Lysistrata there are two choruses—the Chorus of Old Men and the Chorus of Old
Women. A Koryphaios leads both choruses. The Chorus of Men is first to appear on stage
carrying wood and fire to the gates of the Akropolis. The Chorus of Men is an old and
bedraggled bunch of men who have great difficulty with the wood and the great earthen
pots of fire they carry. The men plan to smoke the women out of the Akropolis. The Chorus
of Old Women also approaches the Akropolis, carrying jugs of water to put out the men’s
fires. The Chorus of Old Women is victorious in the contest between the choruses and
triumphantly pours the jugs of water over the heads of the men. The Commissioner, an
appointed magistrate, comes to the Akropolis seeking funds for the naval ships. The
Commissioner is surprised to find the women at the Akropolis and orders his policemen to
arrest Lysistrata and the other women. In a humorous battle, that involves little physical
contact, the policemen are scared off. The Commissioner takes the opportunity to tell the
men of Athens that they have been too generous and allowed too much freedom with the
women of the city. As the policemen run off, the Commissioner and Lysistrata are left to
argue about the Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata argues that the War is a concern for women
especially and she adds her two cents as to how the city should be run, drawing an
elaborate analogy to show that Athens should be structured as a woman would spin wool.
Lysistrata tells the Commissioner that war is a concern of women because women have
sacrificed greatly for it—women have given their husbands and their sons to the effort.
Lysistrata adds that it is now difficult for a woman to find a husband. The women mockingly
dress the Commissioner as a woman.
The next day, or perhaps some considerable time afterwards, the sex-strike devised at the
beginning of the text, begins to take effect on the men. Lysistrata spots Kinesias, husband
of Myrrhine, approaching the Akropolis. Kinesias has a full erection and is desperate for his
wife. Myrrhine refuses to have intercourse with Kinesias until peace exists between Athens
and Sparta. Kinesias tells Myrrhine that her child needs her, he needs her and he loves her
and Myrrhine pretends to listen to his frustrated pleas. Myrrhine hints that she might make
love to Kinesias, but delays by going repeatedly into the Akropolis to fetch things to make
the couple comfortable. As Kinesias promises to only think about a treaty of peace for
Athens and Sparta, Myrrhine disappears into the Akropolis and leaves her husband in great
pain.

A Spartan Herald approaches the Akropolis and he, like Kinesias, suffers an erection. The
Spartan describes the desperate situation of his countrymen and pleads for a treaty.
Delegations from both states then meet at the Akropolis to discuss peace. At this point, all
of the men have full erections. Lysistrata comes out of the Akropolis with her naked
handmaid, Peace. While the men are fully distracted by Peace, Lysistrata lectures them on
the need for reconciliation between the states of Greece. Lysistrata reasons that because
both Athens and Sparta are of a common heritage and because they have previously
helped one another and owe a debt to one another, the two sides should not be fighting.
Using Peace as a map of Greece, the Spartan and Athenian leaders decide land rights that
will end the war. After both sides agree, Lysistrata gives the women back to the men and a
great celebration ensues. The play ends with a song sung in unison by the Chorus of Old
Men and the Chorus of Old Women while everyone dances.